For most of the blog's existence, we’ve been more Eat.Eat.Lagos than Eat.Drink.Lagos.

This year, we made a concerted effort to fix that a bit. We got the Drink Lagos sub-blog up this year and to take it to another level, we’re adding a drink stage to the festival. You can call it the “Drinks Theatre” and we’ve partnered with a few brands in the Diageo portfolio to bring a proper Drink Lagos experience to #EatDrinkFestival.

There will be quite a few things going on in the Drinks Theatre so let us break it down for you.

Guinness Rich Room & Bold Room Lite

We got invited to the Guinness Flavor Room activation a couple weeks. Beyond Rio Ferdinand (an absolute legend) and a surprise Burna Boy appearance, we were absolutely blown away by the activation itself. Activations tend to border on the meh side of things, but this one was so good. We can’t reveal too much detail without spoiling it, but we’ve convinced the Guinness team to recreate it at #EatDrinkFestival. You can expect some specialty Guinness cocktails, henna and art. That’s all we can say for now…lol.

Panels!

In the actual “theatre”, there’ll be a couple of interesting sessions for guests who swing by. Diageo is in the house so expect complimentary cocktails from the vodka and whiskey bars that are powered by Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker. There are limited seating so it’s "first come, first serve” so you better get in there early if you’re interested.

Art of the Cocktails - Day 1 (Dec. 26) 4 - 5 pm

Hosted by Lala and the Eko Cocktail Club, this will be an intimate discussion on the versatility of gin. Lala will be demo-ing some of her original recipes for you to recreate at home. You’ll learn about crafting more expressive cocktails that go beyond the basic gin and tonic or vodka and orange juice.

Explaining the Labels - Day 2 (Dec. 27) 4 - 5 pm

If you’ve ever wanted to understand the difference between the Johnnie Walker labels, this is the session for you. The Johnnie Walker brand ambassador, Caesario deMedeiros, and Bariety Club will be hosting a whiskey tasting session. This one should be plenty fun and the content might make for a good conversation starter some day.

Bar Battle - Day 1 & 2 (Dec. 26 & 27) 6 - 7 pm

The final event is an amateur Bar Battle and there’ll be a N100k cash prize. To enter, submit 2 interesting original drink recipes, i.e. cocktails you invented at home using this form. The team will select 4 finalists and they’ll come “battle” it out at the festival.

The official term used to denote a fresher in Lagos. One who has probably just hopped off a plane at Murtala Mohammed Airport and is ready to pioneer all possible rocks in Lagos.

First, this is the latest IJGB Guide we’ve done in a while. But it’s not my fault though, I was busy fighting my enemies in the office so I didn’t notice December had properly kicked in until my salary kicked in.

Second, your boy has been paid so Christmas has OFFICIALLY started.

Speaking of of getting paid, the dollar has been relatively stable this year. There was a little spike a couple weeks ago, but big daddy Meffy has been fighting the fire with all his might. Smart people say it’s one of those things where you transfer the effects to the long term in exchange for short term reward. Long story short, your dollar might not buy out the bar this year, but it probably will next year. So stay tuned for 2019 IJGB Guide lol.

Anyway, here’s a lowdown on what you’ve missed since your last visit:

Where to Eat

Yeah, some locals might say it’s overrated or it’s “not that good”, but those ones tend to forget they’re in Lagos and everything sucks. Look, you cannot, with good conscience, say there are 10 restaurants in Lagos better than Z Kitchen. And when you look at it like that, it’s easy to see why it’s the best new opening of the year. The seafood pasta is a scam, but they steaks are excellent and so is the cheesecake.

Where to Drink

Was Buzz Barr here last year? I’m a washed man so I really don’t know what the streets are saying these days. Christina knows though and she says the Pornstar Martini is a top 5 cocktail in Lagos:

The Porn Star, which is a passionfruit martini accompanied by a miniature glass of champagne, was O-U-T-S-T-A-N-D-I-N-G.It was made from fresh passionfruit, vodka, passionfruit liqueur, vanilla liqueur, fresh lime juice and shooter champagne. This definitely makes top 5 Drink Lagos cocktails – it was neat, strong and sophisticated. 

December is one of our favorite months of the year in Lagos. December in Lagos is exactly how you get scammed into moving back. You come home for Christmas and Lagos “finishes” you with enjoyment. The love for December is a little different as locals, but it’s love regardless lol.

December is also the month of the Festival — #EatDrinkFestival, that is. Year after year, we talk about each upcoming festival is our biggest yet, but we really mean it this year. We have an impressive vendor line-up and we’ve tacked on a couple new elements as well. Someone on the Nigerian internet said the festival is slowly becoming like mathematics, but trust us when we say this, this will be the one time a math class is enjoyable. Just trust us.

WHAT IS #EatDrinkFestival?

#EatDrinkFestival is our wonderful two-day food festival happening on December 26 and 27. For these two days, at that big field beside The Lekki Coliseum, you’ll get to sample from the finest in local culinary talent, attend some tasting panels, and if you’re really about, sample a fine dining dinner from a chef at the only Nigerian-owned Michelin star.

I’M NEW TO YOUR EVENT. WHAT DO I DO?

So you just ordered a wristband to #EatDrinkFestival or maybe you’re thinking about it. You aren’t too sure about it (trust us, it’s going to be great so get wristbands HERE) and don’t know what to expect. What if you don’t know anyone else there? What do you wear? How many pounds will you gain? How many jollof arancinis is too much?

Fear not, beloved. There is nothing to worry about. Here are a couple tips that'll help you make the most of this two-day feast so that you can live your best life at #EatDrinkFestival

1. GET WRISTBANDS EARLY

Lagosians can be the masters of “lastminute.com” and we get it. Sometimes, you’re just too lazy to do anything ahead of time. Or maybe you just don’t trust online payments, which is a valid fear.

But this one time, you might want change things up a bit. Having your wristband early means you don’t have to stand in line to get into the event. We’ve done this four times now, it is ALWAYS crowded at the gate. You don’t want that type of stress in your life. Guests with wristbands get on the express line, i.e. no line at all.

(Yeah, we built a whole platform just for this and future events. That’s how awesome this one is going to be.)

After we confirm your order, we’ll shoot you an email when your wristband is ready for pick up and you can come down to Cafe One, at Lennox Mall (Lekki), to pick it up. The wristband grants you access to both days of the festival.

2. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

Failure to plan is planning to fail. There’s a lot to see and do at #EatDrinkFestival. We’ll have over 80 vendors across the two days so each day is a whole new experience. It’s like having #EatDrinkFestival TWICE. Look over our vendor list ahead of time and prepare a list of "Must Visit” vendors. Check out the map on our website (available the week of the event) and make sure you plan to hit your favorites first.

Like last year, there’s the main stage with Maggi which will feature cooking demos and competitions. This year, we’re adding the Drink Theatre with Guinness. We’ll go in more detail later in the week, but this one is super super fun and there be lots of freebies.

It can get a little crowded and overwhelming at the vendor stands so we’ve added something a little more chill called Fun Size Events. You can sit, catch your breath and continue the feasting. These are four pop-ups spread over two days in lunch and dinner sessions. View the schedule HERE.

3. MAKE A BUDGET, LOAD YOUR WRISTBAND

One big reason we put out vendor menus early is to help guests budget their festival spend. We’ve gone a step further for this edition. This year, all payments at the festival will be done with the wristband. Vendors will not be accepting cash or card. To make purchases, you'll have to load your wristband with points. You can load points at Cafe One before the festival or at the top up stations + front desk at the festival. Make a budget of what you want to spend and load up your wristband.

4. DRESS THE PART

Get yourself some comfortable shoes, absolutely no heels. Add a hat and sunscreen for the sun as well. Most importantly, wear some comfortable clothes because you're going to be doing some eating. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so get some clothes with a little stretch. You'll most likely want to navigate the festival unencumbered, so pack light. Leave the unnecessary stuff at home.

5. PACE YOURSELF

This is the most important of all our tips. Don't overdo it. There’s no way you’re leaving hungry so pace yourself. The festival last two days this year so you want to avoid the premature food coma.

6. GET A SQUAD

Get yourself a squad for the festival. As soon as you get into the festival, split up, secure some goodies, get back together at the seating areas and share your spoils

7. MEET VENDORS, COLLECT CARDS.

Be sure to talk to the chefs, the mixologists, the artisans. You never know who might cater your wedding or your office’s end -of-year party. Get to know these guys because it’s very rare to find them physically Most of out vendors don’t have physical locations and all most know about them is from social media Meet them up close and ask al the questions you want. Collect cards from the businesses you loved, and jot down notes on the cards to help you remember their significance later.

8. IF YOU DON’T NEED TO DRIVE, DON'T.

We STRONGLY advise that you carpool or use any of the ridesharing services because that's what we'd do if we were attending an event like this. We even finessed ourselves a Taxify code for this very reason. You’ll be eating and drinking a lot so traffic isn’t something you want to partake in.

The Burgundy by Chef Stone: Nostalgia

DRINK

Decemberjam

Lala, of Drink Lagos, is involved with this and there’s drinking involved.

LAGOS

Pretty World

Maybe I’m a little bit biased because he went to Loyola, but Donald’s tape is one of my favorites this year. It has been pretty amazing to watch him grow as an artist and his show this weekend should be plenty fun.

Have a great weekend, guys!

And so it begins! The blog has kicked into full #EatDrinkFestival mode and this is the perfect time to reveal our vendor lineup, as well as their menus. While we’ve mentioned this a couple of times on our channels, it probably bears repeating: the festival is running for TWO days this year. We’re also going cashless with reloadable wristbands, more on that HERE.

That said, back to talking about what you can EAT and DRINK at the Festival. To make things fun, each day has a fresh set of vendors minus a couple exceptions who will be there on both days.

Check out all the menus and prices too! (so you can set your budget and prosper).

Click to enlarge each menu.

#EatDrinkFestival presented by Sterling Bank is taking place on Dec. 26-27 at the Lekki Coliseum (14 Providence Street, off Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1). Get a preloaded wristband at eatdrinkfestival.com﻿